Date: Fri 15-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Rick-Ruesch-paralyzed

Full Text:

Freak Accident Changes The Life Of The Ruesch Family

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

The Ruesch family said they thought lightning would never strike in the same

place twice.

Almost 30 ago Richard Ruesch Sr, 42, a part-time school bus driver, was killed

in a freak accident on a sunny June day when a tree fell, crashing through the

windshield of his bus and impaling him in the driver's seat.

At the time, the children of Richard Ruesch and his wife, Mary, were young.

Candice was 11; Richard, 9, Evelyn, 5, and Karen, 3.

On November 19 tragedy struck the Ruesch family again. Richard Ruesch, Jr, now

39, suffered a broken neck and a crushed spinal cord in a freak accident while

riding a dirt bike in New Milford. He has been left almost paralyzed from the

neck down.

"Rick has been riding motorcycles since he was 12 years old," said his

youngest sister, Karen Mucherino. "Riding dirt bikes was a passion that he

shared with his eight-year-old son. He was careful -- he was wearing $400

worth of protective gear -- a helmet, and pads on his chest and back, arms and

legs -- when the accident happened."

No one saw exactly what happened, but apparently Rick Ruesch lost control of

his bike, which slid eight feet into a ravine. He was rushed to Yale-New Haven

Hospital, where surgeons stabilized his neck by fusing the fifth, sixth and

seventh vertebrae, using titanium rods and plates.

"It really was a freak accident," his sister said. "He didn't have a scratch

on him. But immediately after the accident happened, he couldn't feel anything

from his neck on down. Fortunately the paramedics knew what they were doing.

They started an intravenous drip that slowed down the likelihood of swelling."

After 11 days in neurocranial intensive care, Rick Ruesch was transferred on

December 1 to Gaylord Rehabilitation Center in Wallingford.

"He has regained partial use of his arms -- he can lift them up -- but not the

use of his hands," his sister said. "He breaths on his own. The doctors have

classified him as an incomplete quadriplegic because they don't know what the

prognosis is yet."

Born while his family lived on Buttonball Drive in Sandy Hook, Rick Ruesch

graduated from Masuk High School in Monroe and studied drafting at the

Colonial School of Drafting in Waterbury and Waterbury State Technical

College. But he soon found that he couldn't stand to work at a desk all day,

his mother said. Eventually he gave up drafting to build houses as a

self-employed framer.

"He loved being a framer -- he loved being outside," Karen said. "Even in

sub-zero weather he'd call up and suggest that we all go sledding or for a

walk in the woods."

Rick Ruesch designed and built the two-story colonial house off Route 34 that

he has lived in for the past three years with his wife, Ruth, 36, and their

three sons, Richie, 11, Ronny, 8, and Jamie, 5, all students at Sandy Hook

Elementary School.

"He worked his regular job during the day, then worked on the house at night

and on weekends," Karen said. "He got pneumonia twice while working on it."

Finally the house was finished and the Ruesches moved in. They joined Newtown

Congregational Church and the boys became active in school activities and in

Parks & Rec programs. Ronny developed an interest in motorcross racing and

would have been with his father the day he was injured but his bike had been

taken to a shop for repairs the day before the accident.

"Rick was so depressed after the accident," Karen said. "He wanted so much to

be with his family on Christmas Day. Then we heard about radio station WB

108's Christmas `Wish List.' American Medical Response paid the cost of an

ambulance to bring him home for the day."

As a self-employed tradesman, Rick Ruesch had limited medical insurance and

could not afford the premiums for disability insurance. Younger sister Evelyn

Mainiero, who lives in Oxford and works for a health maintenance organization,

has been helping to fight the family's battle with the insurance company.

Ten years ago most insurance companies would have covered eight months to a

year of rehabilitation but this is no longer the case, she said.

"He is only allowed 30 days per calendar year as an inpatient, which would

mean that December and January are covered," she said. "The cost is $1,100 a

day. December had 31 days so his wife got a $1,100 bill for the extra day,

even though he received no rehabilitation services on the holiday.

"He can't even transfer himself from a bed to a chair but when the 30 days [in

1999] are up, he will be sent home because his family can't afford $1,100 a

day. As it is, he gets only 2« hours of physical therapy a day at Gaylord. He

is six-feet tall and was 215 pounds of solid muscle. Since the accident he has

dropped 50 pounds in four weeks."

Every day a member of the family spends the day at Gaylord, helping to care

for him and try to boost his spirits.

"The first words he spoke when they took the breathing tube out was to ask if

he would ever be able to work and support his family again," Karen said.

Rick's older sister, Candice Davies, who lives in Newtown and is a hairdresser

at The Natural Look, said it has never been the family's way to ask for help.

This time, however, his sisters and friends are reaching out to the community.

"Rick was very big on helping others," she said. "Each year we adopted a

family to help at Christmas and he supported Toys for Tots and other charities

that he knew wouldn't be using the donations for administrative costs."

Longtime friend Marc Cartiscano of Newtown has organized a dinner dance and

raffle which will be held as a fund-raising event at the Monroe Firehouse on

Route 110 on Saturday, February 27. Tickets are $25 per person. The raffle

includes a first prize of a 32-inch stereo television; second prize, a

round-trip limo to Foxwoods with an overnight stay at the Grand Pequot Towers

Hotel and Casino, and dinner for two at the Veranda Cafe; third prize, a

26-inch, 18-speed mountain bike; and fourth prize, six Beanie Baby bears.

Raffle tickets are $2 and winners need not be present for the drawing.

Tickets are available at The Natural Look or by calling (toll-free from

Newtown) 881-5567. A registered non-profitable charitable organization has

been created. Donations may be made to the Richard Reusch Fund, c/o People's

Bank, Queen Street, Newtown 06470.